Chicago Bulls 2

Hoy subo algunos videos del maravilloso partido del martes pasado. Estamos como locos, empaquetando cajas, vaciando la casa, desmontando muebles, guardando ropa, pero al menos, podemos recordar los maravillosos momentos del partido. Si me ois diciendo en los videos: "voy a llorar de emocion", es cierto, jeje! No estaba exagerando, me emocione con el espectaculo! Espero que os guste!

Today you can see some videos we took during the great game last Tuesday. These days are crazy with packing boxes, emptying the house, disassembling furniture, packing clothes, etc. At least we can remind some of the great moments of last Tuesday game. You can hear me saying "I'm going to cry of excitement", hehe! I wasn't exagerating, I almost did! Hope you like it!!

Chicago Bulls

No tengo palabras. Me gusto tanto el partido!!! Los Bulls perdieron frente a LA Clippers, pero yo lo disfrute igualmente. Dejo las fotos de la maravillosa noche de martes que pasamos en el United Center. Un espectaculo maravilloso que recomiendo a todo aquel que pase por Chicago alguna vez. Videos y comentarios en siguientes posts :)

I'm speechless. I absolutely loved the game!! The Bulls lost vs LA Clippers, but I enjoyed it anyway. Here you can see some pictures we took last Tuesday at the United Center. Really great show that I highly recommend to everyone who comes ever to Chicago. 

Movies and more comments are coming in next posts ;)

Heating while waiting for the metro. Calefaccion en el anden.

Otra de las cosas que tiene el fresquito que hace por estas tierras es la calefaccion en los andenes del metro-tren. Funcionan desde noviembre hasta marzo y cuando hay que hacer transbordo se agradece :) Aunque a veces no es facil encontrar un huequecito en el que meterse, jeje!

Aqui dejo la foto de mis compis el pasado domingo, fuimos a Chicago a ver un espectaculo flamenco y tuvimos que esperar el tren, refugiandonos en las cabinas de calefaccion. Otra curiosidad mas de las ciudades frias!

Another curiosity of the cold weather in this side of the ocean is the heating shelters at the train stations. They work from November to March and they are very convenient whenever you have to wait for the next train, even though it isn't easy to find a spot to warm up :)

Here you can see a picture with some colleagues. We went downtown last Sunday to watch a flamenco show. We could warm up ourselves in the heating shelters. One more curiosity of cold cities!

Las luces en la parte superior dan mucho calorcito!!

The lights above provide heat!!

Desde mi ventana. From my window

Nieve, llueva, haya niebla o luzca el sol, echare tanto de menos la vista desde nuestro apartamento en Evanston. La luz del lago Michiagan es increible, levantarte y ver el lago a 200 metros no tiene precio.

Doesn't matter if it snows, rains, it's foggy or sunny, I'll miss the view from our apartment in Evanston. The light of lake Michigan is special. Getting up and see the lake at less than 200 meters is priceless.

Blizzard. Ventisca.

Niebla. Fog.

Sol. Sun.

Chicago...

Halloween 2012

Debido a que estamos en los USA :) podemos disfrutar de esta festividad en todo su esplendor. En España es un tema muy comentado, ya que desde hace unos años, se ha adoptado la tradicion americana y cada vez mas gente celebra Halloween con disfraces, calabazas, etc. En eso no me meto, cada uno es libre de celebrar lo que le parezca y ademas, es algo bueno para divertirse. Por otra parte, nosotros tambien tenemos nuestras propias tradiciones, comidas y dulces tipicos de este dia, que tambien tienen su encanto.

En 2010 y 2011 celebramos Halloween asi: 2010 y 2011, pero este año no tenemos plan :(

De todas formas, siempre hay alguna pequeña celebracion. En este caso, en el laboratorio, donde he improvisado mi lado psicopata con una disolucion de "dicetopirrolopirrol" con la que estaba trabajando, jeje! 

Otros compañeros han trabajado con su disfraz como es costumbre y por supuesto, tenia que enseñarlo. Podeis ver a Mark "Diablo sexy", Adam "Super Mario" y Roman "Cerdito ruso" :)

Veremos lo que nos depara el 2013 y si seguimos celebrando esta fiesta. De momento disfrutaremos del buen ambiente que se respira y del modo de vivir la fiesta en Chicago.

It is awesome to be in the States for Halloween. This festivity is being adopted more and more by Spanish people and many different opinions are found related to this. However, I really don't mind people celebrating it since it is just something funny and it doesn't really hurt anyone. On the other hand, I also like people keeping our own traditions for the day of the death and all the Saints, enjoying the typical food and sweets for these days and our own way of living the festivity.

We celebrated Halloween the past two years, here are the links to the blog posts: 2011 and 2010. Unfortunately, we don't have a plan for this year :(

However, there is always a small celebration. This year I have improvised my own Halloween "costume" and I've brought to light my most psycho side with a solution of "diketopyrrolopyrrole" dye I was working with, hehe!

Other colleagues have come to work on their costumes as they normally do on Halloween. You can see "sexy devil" Mark, "Super Mario" Adam and "Russian pig" Roman :)

I wonder was is awaiting for us in 2013 and if we will celebrate Halloween in a completely different part of the world. For now, we'll enjoy the good environment here in Chicago.

My setup

Enseñar de vez en cuando cosas de mi trabajo me encanta, jeje! En este caso quiero dejar en el blog algunos de los equipos que estoy usando en el trabajo. Este en concreto es una probe station y un equipo para medir propiedades fisicas, en este caso estoy haciendo medidas para estudiar materiales ferroelectricos. Un compañero mio (que ya no esta en el grupo) fue el encargado de montar todo esto y me entreno, ahora puedo usarlo y continuar mi proyecto. Me encanta! Pero que dificil es a veces...Solo dos meses para terminar este proyecto que espero me de buenos resultados!!

I love showing my setups from time to time in the blog :) In this case I want to show you the setup I'm using lately. It is a probe station coupled to a physical properties equipment. I use it to study materials with ferroelectric properties. One of the former members of the group was in charge of the setup and he arranged everything to make it work. I got trained and now I can use it freely for my experiments and one of my projects. I love it! Even though sometimes things are too difficult...Only two more months to finish this project, which I hope gives us good results!!

Art Institute of Chicago II. Instituto de arte de Chicago II

El domingo fuimos con el padre de Thomas al insituto de arte de Chicago, es el mejor museo de Chicago segun mi opinion. Ya hice un post sobre este maravilloso lugar aqui.

En esta ocasion pudimos disfrutar de nuevas colecciones y aqui os muestro la pieza que mas me gusto :) Me parece espectacular por el estilo, el color, lo retro, es genial! La obra pertenece al artista aleman Gerhard Ritcher y se llama "Woman descending the staircase" (Frau die treppe herabgehend, 1965).

Last Sunday we went to the Art Institute of Chicago with Thomas' dad. It is the best museum of Chicago according to my opinion. I already wrote a post about it, here.

We could enjoy new collections and here I show my favorite piece :) I think it is gorgeous, it has a unique style and color. Genius! It is called "Woman descending the staircase" (Frau die treppe herabgehend) by the German artist Gerhard Ritcher in 1965.

A pesar de disfrutar absolutamente de todas las exposiciones, hay algunas piezas que son  un autentico desproposito...(siempre segun mi opinion).

Even though I enjoy every single piece of the different exhibitions, there are some works which are completely ridiculous (my opinion, as always).

Palito de colores. Colored stick...

El mejor de todos. Simply the best.

Por otra parte, habia otras colecciones que merecian la pena por lo rompedoras, coloristas y vanguardistas:
On the other hand, there were other collections which were really worth it. They were colorist, innovative and avant garde:

Espero poder ir otro dia antes de dejar esta maravillosa ciudad :(
I hope to go once again before leaving this wonderful city :(

17 de Octubre, cafes. October 17th, coffee.

Asi es como me sirvieron el domingo pasado el cafe aguadito que se toma por estas tierras, con 6 sobres de azucar y 4 de leche. Este cafe te lo van rellenando, asi que esta muy diluido, probablemente me pusieron tanta azucar para ir endulzando los consecutivos "refillings", jeje!

This is how my coffee was served last Sunday in Chicago, with 6 bags of sugar and 4 of milk. I guess it was thinking for the refills, but to be honest it is so watery and dilute that I normally don't take them :)

Por otra parte, el martes fui a una charla de un profesor de Northwestern. Siempre se sirve cafe y galletas, mirad que pinta mas horrible tiene el cafe, argg! Nada como nuestra cafetera pequeñita, de ahi si que sale un cafe exquisito, sin Nespresso y sin alta maquinaria :)

Yesterday I went to a tenure lecture of a professor of Northwestern. Coffee and cookies are normally served and look how ugly the coffee looks, argg! There is nothing like our small percolator, delicious and strong coffee comes out of it, there is no need of Nespresso or other sophisticated machinery :)

El otro dia me hacia falta azucar, tuve un dia estresante y estaba muerta. Cogi una "galletita", aunque no lo suelo hacer por el motivo que veis en la foto, casi no tienen grasa...
I really needed sugar the other day, I had a stressing and busy day, I was dead. I took a cookie even though I normally don't eat them because they are "kind of greasy"...

Mi triste cafe y mi galleta grasienta :)

My sad coffee and my greasy cookie :)

Sin embargo, no todo es malo, claro que no!! El cafe de Starbucks y en especial de Peets esta riquisimo. Al principio me parecia estupido pedir cafe de esa forma tan freaky: "double tall non fat latte" o "venti decaf caramel fredo soyccino" hehe! Pero hay cafes que estan buenisimos, como por ejemplo, el cafe de esta temporada, con especias de calabaza, uhmmm!

However, not everything is bad, of course not!! Starbucks coffee and the great coffee of Peets are delicious. At the beginning I though it was stupid to order coffee in such a difficult way: "double tall non fat latte" or "veni decaf caramel fredo soyccino", hehe! but to be honest, there are some coffees that are nice, as for example the seasonal coffee like the "pumpkin" spiced coffee, uhhmm!

Cambios. Changes.

Cada vez que pienso el poco tiempo que nos queda en Chicago me entra muuuucho miedo!!! Tambien pena y una sensacion rara al pensar que estos dos años y medio se estan terminando :( Lo echaremos mucho de menos, profesionalmente ha sido muy duro, pero ahora si que hemos visto el lado cientifico desde todos los angulos y paises. Personalmente, ha sido una etapa maravillosa que no me gustaria cambiar, pero quien sabe si lo que nos espera no es aun mejor? Al menos, sera mas cerca de casa y de los nuestros. Por desgracia, no vamos a España, pero estaremos mucho mas cerca, en Europa :) con conexion directa y cortita.

Me encantaria hacer mil reflexiones sobre este tiempo aqui y posiblemente las hare cuando no me sienta tan afectada como ahora mismo, pero lo que he pensado de momento y para vivir al maximo nuestros ultimos meses aqui, voy a contar algo diariamente sobre cosas que me gustan de aqui y para ilustrarlo mejor, con foto! De momento, quiero reflejar algunas cosas que hemos hecho ultimamente por aqui y que quiero tener en el blog.
Every time I think we are about to leave Chicago I feel veeeery scared!! I also feel sad and I have a strange feeling when I think how fast these two and a half years went by so fast :( We will greatly miss it. It was an awesome professional experience, but very hard. At least, we can now say that we know the research world from every angle and country. It has been an awesome personal experience that I wouldn't like to change. However, who knows if what is coming next will be even better? We'll be closer to our families, not in Spain unfortunately but with good direct flights and pretty short.
I'd love to express many ideas and things about all these time and I'll probably do it once I feel more relaxed and not so affected by the big change. For now, I'll write something daily about things we like here or things we do. Everything will be illustrated with a picture at least :) Today I just leave here some pictures of things we've done in the last days/weeks and that I'd like to have in the blog.

Cumple de Carson en Bat17 con la torre de cerveza. Carson's bday in Bat17 with a beer tower.

Tonterias con mis compañeros, lo echare mucho de menos! Stupid things with colleagues, I'll miss it so much!

Cenando con Olga. Su historia para encontrar piso fue curiosa :) Salimos a cenar y no pudo tomar vino porque no llevaba su carnet de identidad, jeje! Tiene 25 años y nosotros 30!!! Esto es la leche!

Eating with Olga. Her story about finding an apartment was a bit frustrating :) We went out for dinner and she couldn't drink wine because she forgot her ID, even though she is 25 and we are 30!!! Incredible!

Soy madridista y en Chicago, tambien!!

I'm a fan of Real Madrid, also in Chicago!!

Visita del padre de Thomas!! Regalo por su 60 cumpleaños. Aqui estamos en el templo Bahai. Podeis ver el post anterior aqui.

Thomas' dad visit!! The trip was his present for his 60th birthday. Here we are at the Bahai temple in Evanston. You can watch the Bahai post here.

Visita al Art Institue of Chicago con el padre de Thomas, el post viene pronto!

Visit to the Art Institute of Chicago with Thomas' dad. The post about it is coming!

Eating dinner at "The Cellar", our favorite restaurant in Evanston. Here Lyle is drinking Kwak, a great Belgian beer.

Cenando en "The Cellar", nuestro restaurante favorito en Evanston. Aqui esta nuestro amigo Lyle bebiendo Kwak, una cerveza belga muy rica.

Victoria Secret

 

Victoria Secret, ademas de ser una tienda estupenda y con ropa que me encanta (no solo interior), es un lugar en el que se pueden pasar ratos divertidisimos, tanto si vas sola como si vas acompañada. Esta segunda opcion es aun mejor :)

El fin de semana pasado nos visito la hermana de Thomas, nos encanto verla y ademas, hicimos algunos planes en Chicago, entre ellos, ir a Victoria Secret!! :)

La tienda de Michigan Avenue es enorme, ropa interior en la planta baja y ropa de calle en la planta superior.

Victoria Secret is a great shop with wonderful women's underwear but it is also the perfect place to have fun if you go there alone or as a group activity with girl friends :). This last option is the best!!

Last weekend Thomas' sister visited us. We loved having her here with us! We planned many things in Chicago and a visit to Victoria Secret was included!! :) The store in Michigan Avenue is huge. It has all kind of underwear on the ground floor and the rest of the clothes are on the first floor.

El sabado, en la entrada de la tienda habia una dependienta que se ofrecia para medirte "el busto" y decirte tu talla. Despues le contabas lo que ibas buscando y te hacia una tarjetita con tu talla, modelos en mente, etc. He de decir que me parezco a una tabla, pero esta chica me midio y me dijo que yo tenia una talla "32 DD", jajajaja! Si yo no paso de la copa "B", jeje! Yo creo que lo hacen para que nos emocionemos :). Despues de medirnos, pasamos a los probadores, aqui os enseño algunas fotos. La luz no era exactamente asi, aunque he de decir que es una iluminacion que hace que no se vean mucho las "imperfecciones" jejeje!

Cada probador  lleva el nombre de algun lugar exotico del mundo como "Saint Tropez" o "Milano".

We went to the store last Saturday. There was a shop-assistant at the entrance of the store and she was there to measure us and tell us about our current size :) and give us advice about the different models of underwear we were looking for. I must say that I am almost like a board and this girl told me my size was "32 DD", WTF!! I've never had anything different than "B cup", ahhaha! I think they do it just to get us excited and think we have big b...:):)

After that we went to the fitting rooms, they are big, nice with comfortable chairs and sofas. The light was not as bad as on the pictures, but I think the illumination is designed so you don't see your skin "defects" :)

Each of the rooms has the name of an exotic place in the world such as "Saint Tropzz" or "Milano".



 

 

Probador Saint Tropez. Saint Tropez fitting-room

Probadores, se que esta lejos, pero en el espejo se refleja la sala. Picture of the fitting rooms outside, even though it is small, the mirror's reflection shows how is the place.

 

 

Una vez dentro del probador las dependientas nos trajeron varios modelos de la talla sugerida. Por supuesto, me tuvieron que traer una talla menor, ya que lo de la copa DD fue solo un espejismo, ajajja! Cada vez que te probabas algo podias llamar a tu dependienta pulsando el timbre que se ve en la foto :), empezaba a parpadear y ella aparecia al momento, jeje!

 Once inside the fitting room the shop assistants brough several bras of our suggested size. They had to bring me a smaller size because the double D size was just an illusion, hahaha! Everytime you try something on you can press a bell inside the room to call your personal assistant :), the bell starts blinking until she arrives. That's cool!

Probador por dentro. Inside of the fittim room.

El timbre, no lo pille parpadeando...The bell, I couldn't catch it blinking :)

 

 

En esta foto se ve lo grandes que son los probadores. Si, estoy probandome un camison, pero bueno, como no es muy sexy ni se ve nada indiscreto, planto la foto :)

You can see here how big the fitting rooms are. Yes, it is me trying something on. It is not very sexy and you can't see anything forbiden so I just post it :)



 

 

Tambien probamos los perfumes de Victoria Secret. Lo mejor es que habia una persona, un señor (si, tambien hay hombres que trabajan alli, entre mujeres que se vuelven locas entre montañas de bragas, jajaja) que se dedicaba a ponerte el perfume en un probador o en tu propia piel y te abanicaba el brazo hasta que el aroma era el adecuado :) No pude fotografiar el momento, pero me hubiera encantado hacerlo!

We also tried the VS perfumes. The best of all was that there was a guy (yes, there are also men working there, among millions of women crazy for buying panties and bras) whose job was to give you advice about perfume, put a sample on a piece of paper or just on our skins. Afterwards, he would wave until the aroma of the perfume was perfect. I couldn't take a picture of the moment, but I would have loved to do it!

 

Finalmente, una foto en la puerta de la tienda con nuestras bolsas cargaditas de ropa interior nueva y super "necesaria", de colores y formas especiales, jajajaja! Lo pasamos bomba!!

Finally a picture at the store's door with our bags full of new and super "necessary" underwear, with beautiful colors and shpes :):) I had a blast!!!

Caroline and I at the door of VS. Caroline y yo en la puerta de Victoria Secret.

Llego la boda de Almudena. Almudena's wedding

Por fin el pasado sabado 11 de agosto llego la boda de Almudena. Vole a España el jueves por la noche, llegue a Madrid el viernes por la mañana y tuve tiempo de descansar y llegar fresca al evento :) Trabaje en el avion, escribiendo una beca Marie Curie, 30 paginas de solicitud en menos de 5 dias, para reventarse.
El viaje aunque cansado merecio la pena, la ida fue estupenda, la vuelta un infierno...De todos modos, quiero dejar aqui plasmado este dia, que recordare como un dia precioso mientras estaba en Chicago. Os dejo algunas fotos que resumen la boda.
Last Saturday August 11th, Almudena and Dani's wedding was celebrated. I flew to Spain on Thursday night and I arrived in Madrid on Friday morning. I had time to rest and arrive bright to the event. I worked in the plain, writing a Marie Curie proposal, with an application of more than 30 pages in less than 5 days. I'm happy Thomas helped me :)
The trip was worth it, going there was easy but the back was an odisey. However, I'd like to post about the wedding here to keep it as a nice memory of something that happened while I was in Chicago. Here are some pictures of the wedding.

La pareja recien casada. Just married couple.

Mariposas de arroz. Rice butterflies.

Grupo de amigos de la novia (ahora tambien del novio). Bride's friends (now also groom's)



Foto con la novia. Picture with the bride.

El jamon finiquitado, que pena!! The end of the ham, sad!!

Sevillanas :)

Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO

Disfraces en la fiesta. Costumes for the party.

El viaje me sento fenomenal, ver a mi familia aunque sea por poco tiempo es como mi gasolina :) El viaje no fue lo relajante que deberia por cuestiones de trabajo, pero teniendo en cuenta los tiempos que corren, no me quejo!!

La vuelta se trunco cuando tuvimos que hacer un aterrizaje de emergencia en el estado de Maine (USA). Hubo una emergencia medica, una chica sufrio un ataque de asma y los medicos que habia en el avion le pidieron al capitan que aterrizase. El vuelo se retraso dos horas y al llegar a Chicago tuvimos que hacer mas de 3 horas para pasar la aduana. Al final llegue a casa a las 9 de la noche, en vez de a las 2 del mediodia...Me perdi la presentacion de Haohao, un estudiante que ha trabajado conmigo este verano y que ya estara de vuelta en Francia. Ademas, no le dije a mi jefe que me iba a Espana y al final, no llegue a la reunion del grupo, pero buen, en peores plazas hemos toreado, jeje! Al menos, disfrute de la boda!! Felicidades chicos!!

The trip was fantastic, just the fuel I needed to continue some more months here, seeing my family :) The trip wasn't as relaxing as it could have been due to working issues, but considering the difficult economical moment we have right now I won't complain!!

The trip back went wrong because we had to land unexpectedly in Maine (USA) due to a medical emergency. A girl in the plain had an asthma attack and the doctors asked the captain to land asap, I hope she feels better wherever she is. The flight was delayed 2 hours and we had to wait 3 hours in Chicago to go through customs, I was absolutely desperate!! I arrived home at 9 pm instead of at 2 pm...I missed Haohao's presentation. He is my summer student and after 3 months working in Chicago I missed his presentation :(. Moreover, I didn't tell my boss I was coming to Spain and then he discovered I didn't show up for the group meeting...uff...whatever! worse things happen in life, hehe! Congratulations again to the couple!!